1985 - The Destroyers (Rodeo
Productions)
[US/Filipino co-production with
Cirio H. Santiago's Premiere Productions, supervised by Roger
Corman's Concorde-New Horizons. Filmed as "King's Ransom",
released in the US as "The Devastator", in West Germany as
"Force Commando", in Spain as "Destructores", in
Portugal as "Os Implacáveis Destruidores", and in Poland
as "Dewastator"]
Director/Producer Cirio H.
Santiago Screenplay Joseph "Sugarman"/Zucchero Executive
Producer [uncredited] Roger Corman Associate Producer Ginny Nugent
Cinematography "Richard Remington"/Ricardo Remias Music
Matthew Ender, Mark Governor Editors "George Saint"/Gervacio
Santos, Margaret Carlton Production Mixer Vic Donna Production
Manager Eugene Navarro Art Director Ronnie Cross Production Designer
"J.M. Avalon"/Jose Mari Avellana Casting Stan Shaffer
Assistant Directors Joseph Anderson [Jose Mari Avellana?], Joe Tower
Second Unit Director Joseph Anderson [Jose Mari Avellana?] Special
Effects "Jesse St Dominic"/Jessie Sto. Domingo Makeup
Artist Teresa Blair Wardrobe Raymond Allen, Elvira Cannon Camera
Operator "Proctor Lazarus"/Proceso Lázaro Second Cameraman
Johnny Toland Cinematographer: Second Unit [uncredited] Katt Shea
Property Master David Dillon Key Grip Stephen Hunter Electrician Paul
Westman Post-Production Supervisor Deborah Brock Assistant Editors
Rudy Lucas, Junior Lucas, Jojo Saint Re-recording Mixer Phillip
Seretti Foley Ossama Khuluki Stills Neal Odierman Production
Accountant Alex Lonvin Story Consultant Richard L. Harrison Script
Supervisor Nanette Garfinkel Craft Service Felix Pascal
Cast Rick Hill [as Richard Hill]
(Deacon Porter), Katt Shea (Audrey King), Crofton Hardester (John
Carey), Terrence O'Hara (Spencer), Bill McLaughlin (Bartlett), Kaz
Garas (Sheriff Clay Marsh), Jack S. Daniels (Ox), Steve Rogers
(Carey's Henchman [incorrectly listed in the credits as Reese]),
"Debbie Brooks"/Bobby Greenwood (Elaine), Don Gordon [Bell]
(Carey's Henchman), Greg "Rogers"/Rocero (Carey's
Henchman), Henry "Sherman"/Strzalkowski (Deputy Hawkins),
Scott O'Connor (Marty), Carl Colpart (College Kid #1), Gary Stewart
(College Kid #2), Sean Barret (College Kid #3), Tim Murphy (Pot
Couple), Brenda Larsen (Pot Couple), Chris Peterson (Little Boy),
[uncredited] David Light (Reese), Nick Nicholson (Carey's Henchman),
Bill Kipp (Carey's Henchman), Nigel Hogge (Arab Gun Buyer), Berto
Spoor (Carey's Goon), Don Holtz (Carey's Goon), Mathew Westfall
Mini-review by Andrew Leavold
Troubled Vietnam vet Deacon
Porter (Deathstalker's Rick Hill) is called to the sleepy mountain
town of King's Ransom - once again, Baguio in northern Luzon! - by
his former commanding officer's widow (Bobby Greenwood), and finds a
sympathetic face in young lass Audrey (Katt Shea), a community in the
grip of powerful dope grower Carey (Crofton Hardester) and his
private army, and the town's sheriff (Naked Vengeance rapist Kaz
Garas) on Carey's payroll. After he's left for dead in his car's
smoking wreckage, Porter gathers his army buddies (including Terrence
O'Hara and Bill McLaughlin, also in Naked Vengeance) and returns to
King's Ransom armed to the teeth with guns and explosives to blast
their way through Carey's goons, his marijuana fields, and even the
local dam. Loud, dumb, over the top and entertaining as hell,
courtesy of a script by Joe Zucchero, crams in the gun blasts, an
exploding chopper (a Roger Corman stand-by!), and even 'Nam
flashbacks courtesy of Cirio's own Final Mission (1984), and most of
Cirio's regulars are along for the bumpy ride - Carey's executioners
include David Light, Don Gordon Bell (who shoots a teen sniffing
around Carey's pot plants in cold blood, then announces proudly,
"Nailed me a college kid!"), Nick Nicholson, Bill Kipp,
Steve Rogers and Berto Spoor, Henry Strzalkowski has a
micro-appearance as the sheriff's deputy, and an uncredited Nigel
Hogge shows up in an Arab headdress and boot polish as a gun buyer.
Along with much of Cirio's mid-Eighties output for Corman's
Concorde-New Horizons, it's classy top-shelf B flick; The Dam Busters
it ain't, but then that so-called classic never featured a hero
dangling from a helicopter, tossing a grenade into the cabin, then
plunging into the water as the blades go up in a fireball…
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